The Digital Graphic Novel

Daniel Lieske presents Wormworld Saga at NEXT COMIC Festival in Linz.

At the 2014 NEXT COMIC Festival in Linz, Austria, Daniel Lieske presented his Wormworld Saga in the Ars Electronica Centre. It’s a fantasy adventure story, a graphic novel in digital format, which has enchanted readers with its powerful imagery; it’s been translated into 19 languages and read by well over a million people. It’s a new kind of publishing enterprise, which deserves a closer look.

At Christmas 2010 this German graphic artist astonished the international online Comic scene: the first chapter of his Wormworld Saga made the big names of the world of Comics, like Scott McCloud (author of Understanding Comics) sit up and take notice. Daniel Lieske originally worked on video games, so it was natural his drawings for Wormworld would not only be multi-lingual, highly coloured and strong on graphic detail, but would exploit all the possibilities offered by the digital medium. Lieske even quotes McCloud, one of the great theoreticians of Comics, on the ‘infinite canvas’ – which is only possible in the digital world.

This is the concept of an unending book, in which we don’t turn pages from front to back but just scroll in all directions. Panels can be arranged to suit the way we want to read. This type of production was possible, because, from the word go, Lieske wasn’t trying to publish a book; it was only as a result of his success online that publishers approached him, which led to the Tokyopop edition. He financed the project mainly by using money raised on Kickstarter, an American online platform (www.kickstarter.com), which provides finance through crowd-funding. In this context, crowd-funding means raising money from individual contributions starting at the $1 level, for the Comic, film and videogames industry. In this way, the project can make close contact with fans and other interested parties right from the start.